Aston Martin V-8 Vantage

Third Place: Everyday Supercars

When we threw a V-8 Vantage into the ring with a Porsche Carrera S, we weren't astonished by the result, but we were a little surprised by a couple of scoring categories that helped it carry off the first-place trophy. Styling? No shock there. The Aston's angular body and classic GT-coupe proportions—long hood, short rear deck, fast windshield, aggressive stance—stand out in any crowd. But there were two scoring results that really got our attention, both of them subjective. Although the Carrera S prevailed in every objective test category—acceleration, braking, lane change, skidpad—our test crew preferred the Aston's handling and also found it more entertaining to drive. Wow.
So, could Her Majesty's sexy two-seater keep pace in even faster company? The short answer: no. The Audi R8 prevailed against all comers, and we think it would have prevailed had we added other players to the games—the BMW M6, for one. But the Aston did run the 911 Turbo a very good race, ultimately missing second place by about 100 horsepower and 203 pound-feet of torque. In fact, in the mind of our Aaron Robinson, a man given to occasional fits of Anglophilia—we suspect he believes aeronautical development reached its peak with Britain's WWII Spitfire fighter—the V-8 Vantage held an edge over its German rival.
But his was a minority opinion. We all agreed the Aston is a car that would qualify as beautiful at any gathering. The Audi turns more heads with its radical looks and LED eyeliners, but the Aston Martin is a classic beauty, with enough creases and character detailing to keep it current.

We were also unanimous in our appreciation of the Aston's ride quality, which was supple by the standards of cars in this class. But that ride quality came at the expense of chassis compromises—and consequent body roll—that made the Aston a reluctant warrior on the track, reluctance magnified by darty behavior under hard braking.

The other element that held the V-8 Vantage back in this derby was its V-8. A slightly expanded edition of Jaguar's AJ-V8 (4.3 liters versus 4.2), the Aston's eight delivers 380 horsepower and 302 pound-feet of torque. Mated to a rather stiff-shifting six-speed manual gearbox and the highest curb weight in the group, this combo produced results that were more than respectable—0-to-60 in 5.1 seconds, the quarter-mile in 13.5 at 106 mph—but slow by the group standards.Other objective results were similar: an excellent 0.93-g run on the skidpad that was nevertheless third best; a fine stop from 70 mph in 165 feet, also third best; and a 64.1-mph performance in the lane change—not bad, but ditto.

On mountain roads, the Aston was easy to drive rapidly and would have been a very enjoyable companion for a solo run on a sunny afternoon. But we had to pedal hard to keep the Aston in touch with the faster cars, whereupon driving it became more like work than fun. "An 8/10ths car in a 10/10ths game," wrote one driver, which sums up the V-8 Vantage versus these opponents.